New Delhi, Sep 10 (UNI) The Union Health Ministry and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have jointly written to all states and UTs and urged them to ensure that all symptomatic negative cases of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) for Coronavirus are mandatorily retested using the RT-PCR test.
The letter comes after the Union Health Ministry noted that in some large states, symptomatic negative cases tested by Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) are not being followed up by RT-PCT testing.
This is necessary to ensure that such symptomatic negative cases do not remain untested and do not spread the disease among their contacts. This will also ensure early detection and isolation/hospitalisation of such false negatives. It has also been reiterated in the joint letter that while the RAT is being used to increase access and availability of testing in the field, RT-PCR remains the gold standard of Covid tests," the letter said.